You want to conclude a green electricity tariff for the flat. On the offer pages there are green names, countries of origin and various seals. Before you decide, it is worth asking yourself one question: What should the tariff choice achieve from your point of view? The answer determines which information you must check besides price and contractual terms.
What a certificate of origin (Herkunftsnachweis) answers
The Umweltbundesamt explains certificates of origin as proof of how and where electricity from renewable energies was generated. Their cancellation prevents the multiple marketing of the same renewable attribute. However, they are not a comprehensive ecological assessment of the electricity product. Additional requirements can be the subject of green electricity labels. [GRUEN]
This makes an important distinction visible: the proven renewable origin does not automatically answer every further environmental question. For example, anyone who considers specific requirements for new generation plants to be important should check the corresponding criteria of the particular offer. An attractively designed green symbol alone does not explain the underlying standard.
Translating your own environmental goal
Our editorial recommendation: Start by limiting yourself to the few requirements that are decisive for your choice. Is it about the renewable origin, additional proven environmental criteria or a transparently explained support for further plants? Do not write an arbitrarily long wish list of terms that you cannot subsequently verify.
Search for the issuer, the applicable set of criteria and the allocation to the offered tariff for any claimed label. A seal on the general company page must be able to be clearly assigned to the electricity product in question. Have an unclear reference explained before you mark it as fulfilled. This article does not itself check or recommend any single label.
Assigning the tariff concretely
Compare the documentation for the exact product name offered. The Umweltbundesamt describes electricity labelling as information about the supplied energy mix; it can help with the product decision. [GRUEN] Therefore check whether a displayed representation refers to the tariff in question, the entire company or another comparison. If anything is unclear, ask specifically for the presentation that explains your offer.
A fictional example: Two tariffs have similar names. For the first, a household finds only the explanation of the renewable origin, while for the second there is also a certification concretely assigned. The household reads its criteria, instead of deducing an additional environmental effect from the tariff name. Which solution it chooses depends on its previously stated goal and the actual contractual terms.
Linking environmental assessment and household decision
Record which requirements are evidenced and which remain open. You then assess the offer together with costs and contractual conditions. An ecological product feature is not a statement about your personal ability to pay or the reliability of every single contractual clause.
Keep the relevant product documents with the date. If the tariff or certification reference later changes, this allocation helps with re-evaluation. A green tariff name is intended to support a verifiable decision; it does not replace it.